You are the Best Thing That's Ever Been Mine
by rachhudson
Summary: or five times Rachel Berry was referred to as Finn Hudson's girlfriend, and one time Finn was referred to as Rachel Berry's husband.


**written for the prompt "five times Rachel was called Finn Hudson's girlfriend and one time Finn was called Rachel Berry's husband" over at finchel-prompts on tumblr :)**

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><p>i.<p>

Catcalls are being made down the hallway, and Rachel takes it in stride, taking one braid and twirling it smoothly around her finger. She bites her lip as she sees a boy run into an open locker door to her right.

"Is that _Hudson's girlfriend_?" she hears one of the football players ask as she struts by. "_Hot damn_."

She can see Finn look up from over by his locker, and she sees his eyes widen. She just keeps smiling, even when he hastily grabs his jacket and tries to push it onto her shoulders, saying she looks cold.

She feels _hot_, for once, and she's turning heads.

Sure, she's still being referred to as 'Finn Hudson's girlfriend,' but at least it's a start.

* * *

><p>ii.<p>

She somehow gets roped into attending the Hummel family reunion. Finn practically begs her, saying he doesn't want to end up talking to Kurt's grandma Lucille the whole time like he did the previous time he visited her.

"Please, Rachel?" he asks, pouting. "I'll take you to see Hello Molly when it comes to down in July, I promise."

"Hello Dolly," she corrects, smiling at him. "And okay."

So she ends up sitting in between Kurt and Finn on a three hour car ride to Kurt's grandmother's house, Finn's hand resting on her knee. He squeezes it reassuringly as they pull into the driveway. "They'll love you, Rach," he tells her, confidence in his voice.

She takes a deep breath, grabbing his hand as she climbs out of the car after Kurt.

Kurt's grandmother hobbles out to meet them, young children running around the yard already. ("Uncle Billy's kids," Kurt murmurs. "Little hellions.")

"Kurt!" Lucille says, stretching out her arms to engulf him in a hug. She kisses his cheek, ruffling his hair, which, once he's released, he hastily smoothes down again.

"And Finn!" she croons, wrapping Finn and embrace as well. Finn awkwardly hugs her back.

"And who is this?" she asks after she hugs Burt and Carole, eyeing Rachel.

"This is Rachel," Finn says quickly. "She's my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you," Rachel says warmly, holding out her hand.

Kurt's grandmother just stares at her. "So you're Finn's girlfriend."

"Rachel," she reiterates.

The front door opens then, and Kurt's grandmother turns around. "Hey, Eddie! Look who's here!"

Kurt's Uncle Eddie's face breaks out into a grin. "Burt and the clan, I see!"

"And Finn's girlfriend," Kurt's grandmother points out.

"Rachel," Finn says pointedly. Rachel offers him a grateful smile.

"Finn's girlfriend? Well how about that! C'mon in, you'll have to show the rest of the clan!"

Rachel sighs, letting Finn take her hand as they head into the house. It seems pointless to insist she has a name; she's here as a guest, after all.

Kurt's grandmother insists on introducing her as "Finn's girlfriend" to everyone they come into contact with: Kurt's Aunt Rita, his cousins Jill, Katelyn, and Freddie, and countless other relatives. They all smile at her and shake her hand, but whenever she tries to tell them that she has a name, and it's Rachel, she's being whisked off to meet some other relative.

Finally, it's time for lunch, and she's sitting in between Kurt and Finn once again at the long table set up in the garage. She stares dejectedly at the ham she can't eat, glancing over at Finn, who has already snarfed most of his.

"What?" he asks, his mouth full.

She shakes her head, taking her fork and stabbing a few green beans.

"Rach, what's wrong?"

"I just…" She looks around. Kurt is chastising Burt for taking two helpings of ham. Carole is in conversation with Aunt Rita. Everyone seems to fit in here. "I wanted to make a good impression, I guess."

"You did though," Finn assures her, his voice soft and earnest.

She looks at him incredulously. "Finn, no one even knows my name."

"I was 'Carole's son' the first three times I was here," he tells her.

She raises her eyebrows.

"It's like… the thing to do, I guess. Grandma Lucille keeps smiling at you when you're not looking, so I bet you'll be Rachel by the next time you're here."

She bites her lip to keep from grinning – of course there will be a next time even if she hadn't considered it yet – and she leans over to peck his lips lightly, forgetting that they're surrounded by his extended step-family.

Uncle Eddie wolf-whistles. "Can't wait til after lunch?" he asks, winkly roguishly.

Rachel blushes, but no one else seems to be paying her and Finn any mind. She goes back to eating her food, glancing back over at Finn out of the corner of her eye.

She thinks there are worse things she could be called than "Finn's girlfriend."

He reaches over to rest his hand on her knee, smiling at her reassuringly.

In fact, she doesn't mind being referred to as "Finn's girlfriend" at all.

* * *

><p>iii.<p>

She wraps her jacket around her more tightly, shivering a little bit in the cool October breeze. Tina's also shivering beside her, rubbing her hands together.

"This game better not go into overtime," Tina mutters.

"It won't," Rachel says confidently. She glances at the scoreboard, where the score is currently seven to seven with two minutes to go in the last quarter, then down onto the field. She can see the five in the middle of the field, his back facing her as the team huddles up.

"That's her," she hears behind her, a hushed whisper in the bleachers.

"Really?" It's a different voice, another girl's. Her tone is laced with incredulity. "_That's_ Finn Hudson's girlfriend?"

In the past, this might have made Rachel's blood boil or doubt her right to be with Finn, but she knows that Finn loves her, and that's enough, so she just smirks, staring down at the field.

"I don't know what he could see in _that_," she hears the girl mutter darkly.

Okay, now that one stings.

She brushes it off though, because Finn turns back around at that moment, breaking the huddle. The players line up, getting in formation, and Finn locks eyes with her, taking his fingers, pressing them to his lips, then putting them in the air.

She grins, then repeats the gesture. It's their secret code. Finn says it brings him luck.

"Oh my God, you were right," the girl whispers again.

Rachel smiles.

And she smiles even wider after Finn throws the final touchdown pass of the game, the crowd going wild because it seems that McKinley has somehow won an _actual game_.

But she smiles widest of all when he beckons her down onto the field, meeting her at the bottom of the stairs and twirling her around before setting her down and attaching his mouth to hers. She smiles against his lips, running her fingers through his flattened, sweaty hair, and she hopes the girls that were sitting behind her are watching this.

She's Finn Hudson's girlfriend alright. And she's damn proud of it, too.

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><p>iv.<p>

She knocks on the door to his dorm, wringing her hands nervously.

The door opens, but it's not Finn. It's a blonde guy, hair spiked up, and he squints down at Rachel. "Can I… uh, help you?"

"Caleb?" she tries.

He nods slightly.

"I – I'm looking for Finn, is he here?"

"Oh, you Finn's girlfriend?"

Rachel takes in a deep breath. "Y-Yeah." She doesn't know for how much longer, but as of right now, that statement is true.

"Yeah, uh, come on in."

Finn barely even glances at her as she enters the room. She sits down hesitantly on the bed next to him, glancing up as Caleb lets himself out of the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

He says nothing.

"Finn, _please_ talk to me."

"He kissed you." He grits his teeth, still not looking at her.

"I – I know. I pushed him away though, I swear I did, Finn! I was just – he said he just wanted to rehearse, for the play, and then – and then he kissed me. And I was shocked at first, but then I came to, and I ran, and I – and I told you…" She takes a shallow breath, her throat clogged with tears. "I'm so, _so _sorry."

He doesn't move, just keeps staring straight ahead. "I knew it would be hard," he says finally, "even with us in the same city, when I'm here at NYU and you're at Julliard. And I know it's that _asshat's_ fault, but I still… it hurts, watching you kiss other guys, and I mean, when it's for a play it's – it's not real. But that kiss, that was real."

"It wasn't," she insists. "Not – not for me."

For the first time since she's walked in the room, he looks at her, really looks at her.

"I _love _you, Finn," she says, taking his face in between her hands. "And Nick shouldn't have kissed me. But even though he did, you know what I felt when he kissed me?"

"Rach," he croaks, his voice cracking.

"I felt _nothing_," she insists. "Because it meant _nothing_. And before I came here I went and explained that to Nick. Because the only person I _ever _want to kiss, really, truly kiss? _Is you_."

"Do you mean that?" he asks quietly.

"Yes," she says exasperatedly, laughing a little bit. "Of course, Finn! I mean, I _am _known as Finn Hudson's girlfriend, am I not?"

He turns his head to kiss her palm. "I love you," he mutters against her skin.

"I love you, too," she breathes, leaning forward so their faces are inches apart. "_So _much."

She closes the distance then, pressing her lips urgently against his. She feels a fire start in the pit of her stomach and spread throughout her entire body, the sensation familiar but exciting all at once. She just needs to touch him and kiss him and everything will be alright. No one else can make her feel this way, and she plans on letting him know that.

"When will Caleb be back?" she gasps as he moves his lips to her neck.

"He's going out to dinner," Finn mutters, nipping at her skin. "He might be a while."

She lets out a small moan, pulling his face back up to hers. "You're it for me, you know," she whispers, pressing another kiss to his lips.

"You're it for me, too," he promises, kissing her on the nose. He leans her back gently against the bed then, peppering her face with kisses.

"Forever?" she asks breathlessly.

"As long as you'll have me," he vows, hungrily attaching his mouth to hers once more.

_Forever then,_ she adds mentally. Then she stops thinking altogether.

* * *

><p>v.<p>

"What took you so long?" Kurt snaps as soon as she enters the apartment he and Blaine share. "_Please _tell me my brother didn't hold you up."

Rachel rolls her eyes. "I haven't seen much of him today, actually. He had an interview at that school on Apple. I was at play rehearsal."

"Right, right," Kurt mutters. "Of course. So how is life as Finn's girlfriend these days?"

She shrugs. "I'm not his girlfriend anymore."

Kurt stares at her in disbelief. "_What_? _Please _tell me you're joking."

She shakes her head. "Nope."

"You and Finn _broke up_? But… why?"

"Well, actually," Rachel says slowly, pulling her left hand out from behind her back, "I'm his fiancée now!"

Kurt starts squealing, jumping up and down and reaching for Rachel's finger, admiring the way the ring glints in the light of the kitchen. "When?" he demands.

"Last night," she says with a sigh.

"Tell me everything," he says, steering her over to a chair and sitting her down in it. "I want _every detail_."

So, with a smile on her face, she does.

* * *

><p>vi.<p>

Finn's honestly a little out of his element here. There are cameras flashing everywhere and people are screaming out names, but he just glances over at Rachel and sees her beaming and posing and he knows it's all worth it.

"Rachel! Over here! Rachel Berry!"

And, yeah, okay, it's still a little weird when they're shouting his wife's name, but he knows this is her dream, so he's happy for her.

"We're actually here!" Rachel squeals once they get past the press point, gripping his hand tightly as they head into the venue. "The Tony Awards! My _dream_." She beams at him. "I'm _so _happy I get to share this with you."

"Me, too," he says, taking her hand and kissing it.

She giggles.

They find their seats and the ceremony begins. Finn knows what to expect simply because he's had to watch this awards show every year since he and Rachel have been together, but even he could admit that being here was so different – more real.

Rachel's nominated for Best Actress for her role as Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl, and she looks like she's about to pass out when they finally get to the category. Her name is read off the card and she gives a small wave into the camera. Finn squeezes her other hand, letting her know he's there, no matter what.

"And the Tony Award goes to… Rachel Berry, as Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl!"

Finn immediately begins to clap, standing up, hauling a stunned Rachel with him. "You did it, babe!" he says in her ear as he gives her a hug. Tears well up in her eyes as she kisses him, then heads up to the stage to accept her award.

He feels a tap on his shoulder, so he turns around to see a woman with short black hair staring earnestly at him. "You're Rachel Berry's husband, aren't you?" she says loudly, over the clapping.

He glances up at the stage, where Rachel is accepting the gold statue, wiping away tears that are already falling.

"Yeah," he replies. "I am." And, at this moment, he couldn't be more proud to carry that title.

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><p><strong>Thank you so much to every single one of you who has ever favorited, alerted, reviewed, or whatever. I am eternally grateful to all of you, thank you so much :')<strong>


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